By Mark Griswold • Posted December 22, 2025

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part —
Yet what I can I give Him, Give my heart.

—Christina Rosetti, lyric from the (1872) poem “Christmas Carol” later set to the music of “In the Bleak Midwinter”

This is one of my favorite lines from a most cherished English Christmas poem later set to music. It is where my mind goes in these last days of Advent as we prepare for the glorious celebration of the birth of the Savior.

In meditation, I imagine myself approaching that stable in Bethlehem and realizing I have nothing to present to the Christ child. Somehow that re-gifted fruitcake I left at home seems underwhelming for the occasion. Is there a nearby Bethlehem Wawa to get a gift card? As usual, I’m a day late and a dollar short (or frankincense short.)

As I prepare for that embarrassing moment of arriving at the birthday party without an appropriate gift, I’m reminded that even those smelly shepherds have some mutton to offer. I got nuthin.’

At this moment in prayer, I hear the lyric above: “What can I give Him? Give my heart.” Great! At least I have my heart on me and I don’t have to run to Walgreens for a last-minute gift.

But then I think, “My heart? What kind of lousy gift is that? I know my heart, Jesus. It’s full of a bunch of stuff like resentment, unforgiveness, pride, lust — you name it. Certainly Jesus, you don’t what this old heart of mine!”

Suddenly, I hear that still, small voice within that is unmistakably the voice of the Good Shepherd say to me, “My child, I could ask for no better gift on my birthday than your heart. I am the creator of that heart of yours. I know your heart. I created it meticulously. I made it so that it would always know my love for you and that my heart and your heart would one day beat as one.”

Jesus goes on, “I know your heart has been battered and broken. So was mine. I was betrayed. My friends denied me and abandoned me. My heart broke on the cross knowing your sins and the sins of the world. Sin is a sickness of the heart. Since I made your heart, I know how to heal it. All I need from you is your willingness to give me your heart and let me do the heart surgery that you need.”

Suddenly, another tune enters my head that I just heard on B101. “Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away” — all those things I’ve given my heart to in my life that have left me wanting and disappointed. “This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special.”

That someone is Jesus! Live Jesus!

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Mark Griswold is parish life director of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Lenni, Delaware County.